Fitness and Philosophy

Main Menu

Teenage Girls and Training Updates

I am truly sorry for the lack of content over the past week. Currently I am in the process of applying for a staff writer position for a great website and that demanded much of my time. I haven’t forgotten about you!

Today I just wanted to put out a quick post about the program transition I am doing right now with my partners in crime.

After doing about 6 weeks of a hypertrophy oriented program with a heavy emphasis on the Olympic lifts, we are now moving into a strength phase.

Here’s a cinematic example of the good things that can happen when you lift hard and smart like we were doing in the last program:

We now start off with a major lift (bench press, squat, weighted pull up) in the 3-5 rep range. Performing fewer reps means more sets of heavier weights. We are all hoping out lifts will improve over the next two weeks.

Olympic lifts are now only performed 2-3 times per week. When lifts like the snatch, clean, and jerk are used with significant weight there is potential for some bumps and bruises. The lifts are explosive and violent. We are going to reduce our volume and intensity of Olympic lifting while hopefully maintaining technique and letting our joints recover.

Over the course of a workout the sets typically decrease and the reps increase. These are sometimes referred to as accessory lifts. Despite the fact that the word accessory typically conjures up images of vain teenage girls, these lifts can be important and fun.

Finally we top off a workout with some type of strongman movement like a prowler push or sled pull. Those implements are great but rare in most settings. If you do not ave access to strongman equipment like sleds and prowlers another option is performing a high-repetition finisher like a two minute leg press (put a moderate load on a leg press and just go for two minutes).

We are only two workouts into this program, but I have already recorded personal records in the front squat (255 pounds x 3 reps) as well as neutral grip chin up (+40 pounds x 5 reps).

Consider trying some of the techniques I mentioned for improvement. If you need any advice feel free to comment or message me.